things i love tues/thursday #9

blossoms and spring

nothing is more beautiful than the beginning of spring. each year the first rays of sun, the first songs of birds, the first buds on trees, the first flowers on the ground make me really insanely happy. it fascinates me how i am filled with the most irrational sense of hope and happiness again every year. even if things are tough i find myself smiling and realize that all this is just because of the seasons changing. it’s like this constant unconscious feeling of wonder that comes to the surface now and then and in between gives everything a certain fairy tale feel.

one of the things i like most about early spring (and early spring is all that really counts) is blossoming trees. i find the sight of a tree covered entirely in pink instead of green completely fascinating and overwhelming. an especially lovely experience i had with a tree’s blossoms this year was standing under it with two friends while another friend shook the tree so we got a wonderful fragrant shower of tiny pink petals that stuck in our hair throughout the entire evening. it was magical. and when i think of blossoms i am reminded of the song cherry blossom girl by air which is i think the only song i know that i wouldn’t mind listening to constantly. and i mean all the time.

picknicking

i think that consuming food outside, ideally sitting on a blanket on the ground, is the most charming way to eat in the entire world. i would take a picknick over a 5 star dinner any day. picknicks are not easy – it’s a lot of work to think of food that can be prepared in advance, transported without being damaged and eaten without proper equipment. and then actually preparing and packing it all. but that is what makes picknicks so special in my opinion. and that they remind me of the birthday parties my mother threw for me when i was little. at the moment my colleague-friend and i try to have our own little picknicks on our lunch-break by going to the market twice a week, buying delicious fresh things and eating them outside on a bench in the sun.

wearing false eyelashes

it’s funny how i sometimes discover something i like only to realize that i have been doing so for quite some time. it’s that way with fake lashes. i have really come to love wearing them recently, taking every opportunity that presents itself to put them on. i bought a couple of different styles, including the hello kitty lashes by mac. but then when i was going through my make up bag the other day i was reminded that i have been collecting and adoring fake lashes forever. i got my first pair for the carnival when i was maybe 11 and i instantly felt like a queen when i wore them. i was not very pretty then but the lashes instantly transformed me into a lady (which was my costume that year). and when i spent new year’s 2000 in amsterdam the only thing i brought back from that trip was a pair of immense glittery fake blue lashes which i have never worn because they are just too ridiculously long. i’m sure i won’t stop loving fake lashes any time soon and i already can’t wait for the weekend when i get to wear them again.

fischli/weiss

peter fischli & david weiss are two contemporary swiss artists who have created a huge amount of very original, entertaining and diverse pieces of art. this ranges from a collection of clay sculptures with a message (called plötzlich diese übersicht) over installations made out of sausage and cigarette butts (die wurstserie) to diversely different series of photographs. but the first piece i knew by them, the piece they are most known for and the piece i still like the best is their film „der lauf der dinge“ which shows an incredible chain reaction set up by the artists. below you can watch a little preview.

the prospect of starting to read a new book soon

i’ve been reading anna karenina for 5 months now and have just crossed page 1000. there are still more than a hundred pages left but that seems manageable now. don’t get me wrong, i have enjoyed reading this great, important book but i am ready to read something less melancholic, more contemporary now. something that i can come home to after a long day at work and still manage to read more than 10 pages of. i already now what my next book is going to be, it’s called „a fraction of the whole“ and is by steve toltz. supposedly it’s a bit like „special topics in calamity physics„. i can only hope.

frühling für die ohren

ich empfehle: video starten, dann text lesen.

mein soundtrack für diesen frühen frühling sind ganz eindeutig die heart strings. beim ersten hören hielt ich sie fälschlicherweise für schnöden easy listening pop. aber da war auch noch winter. und inzwischen habe ich erkannt wie großartig sie eigentlich sind. zuckersüß-leichter twee-pop der in jeder stimmungslage passt: beruhigt bei wut, macht froh bei niedergeschlagenheit, stimmt positiv bei morgenmuffeligkeit, bestätigt bei zufriedenheit, lässt lächeln bei guter laune, ermöglicht ruhe bei nervosität.

mehr erfahren kann man über die londoner auf ihrer zauberhaften internetseite und bei myspace gibt es einige hörproben. her new desaster ist glaube ich mein lieblingssong. am ersten video zur neuen single kids wird wohl noch gebastelt. man sieht, es handelt sich noch um eine relativ junge band, die mich hoffentlich noch mit vielen weiteren alben beglücken wird.

things to do on a train

being on a train is a great opportunity to really take some time for things you normally wouldn’t get around to. it shouldn’t just be about passing the time but about using it and not wasting the unique mood a trip with a train can create.

before boarding the train, buy a magazine you have never read before.

while preparing for your trip upload some new music to your ipod and use the time on the train to make yourself familiar with a new band or album.

write a real letter using paper and a pen to an old friend you haven’t talked to in years. tell them all about what happened since you last met, what you are up to now, what matters to you, what still makes you think of them.

for every stop of the train, imagine what it would be like to get off here. where would you go? who would you call? what would you do? what would it feel like?

take a book that you know you can read entirely during the length of your trip. don’t look up from it once. let yourself drown completely in the story.

learn a poem by heart. everyone should know at least one.

read an old diary. ideally one from exactly 10 years ago. try to remember what things were like back then. what has changed? did you expect thing to turn out the way they did?

write a list of things that were great about last week.

write a list of things to look forward to in the next six months. if that list is to short for your taste think of things to do that you would be able to look forward to. make plans.

write a short story starting with the words: „i was on a train on my way to see xxx. we hadn’t met in more than five years…“

write a short piece about something you know more about than most other people.

make a list of things you want to get for your spring/summer wardrobe.

make up stories about the people living in the houses you pass or sitting across from or next to you.

write a letter to your future self. what do you want to accomplish by this time next year?

make a playlist of your favourite songs to listen to while on a train.

go through the contacts on your mobile phone and text the people you feel you haven’t been in touch with enough.

look out the window, listen to classical music (i really like haydn!) and imagine you were  living 100 years ago travelling somewhere on a train. where are you going? who are you with? what is your story?

try to start a conversation with the person next to you, maybe they have something interesting to tell you.

so what do you usually do when you’re on a train? or a plane? or a bus?